Ink & Penstemon

Things are looking desperate. We’ve had no snow and no substantial rain all month. Last year at this time, we had a snow pack that stood at 150% of normal. Right now we have less than 50%. The weathermen say not to panic, as we get the bulk of our snowfall in January and February. Yet, they do concede that they are worried by the weather pattern. This is the driest December we’ve experienced since they’ve kept a record. The reservoirs are full, so it isn’t a complete disaster for next year, but weather like this comes in cycles, and given the last few years have been seen average to abnormally wet years, I’m afraid we may be entering some dry, lean years.

Maybe I wouldn’t be vexed by such a sense of panic had I not done a lot of transplanting this fall. The weather has been so mild over the last couple of days that I’ve been out doing spring clean-up in only a long-sleeved pullover. Some buds on the Magnolia ‘Daybreak’ appear to be swelling. I have hauled out the garden hose to water the newly transplanted trees, but in the last few days, as we’ve seen the mercury climb up into the 50-, even low 60-degree range, I’ve put on a lawn sprinkler attachment and have been watering whole beds to make sure newly dug bulbs will make it through, even though it puts borderline plants at risk from freezing as colder temperatures return next week. I will have to rely on the leaf mulch for protection, still piled high like it’s the beginning of November. It looks like using maple leaves as mulch and a soil improvement only works if there is snow to soak them and mash them down. So much for best intentions. Who knows what this spring will look like?

I should qualify that my sense of panic only applies to the more montane plantings in the back garden. The front beds have been planted out with Penstemon and other plants suited to this type of life of extremes. They even benefit from it. There are lessons to be learned here.

But I miss the snow. I’ve been so desperate for snow that we drove five hours north to our family cabin near Yellowstone for Christmas to find snow. Even there they only had a couple of feet. Still, it was wonderful to see. I even took some nice photos of it on the new camera I got for Christmas, which unfortunately requires that I upgrade my OS before I can post them here. But I will, so watch this space.